To be livid at Tesco again

[Mallenstreak]

Further to my other post-while standing at customer services saw a woman with a child in her trolley stop at the sandwich section,grab a packet,open & eat it then walk off. I pointed this out to the manager who simply said "yes I expect the empty packet will go on a shelf somewhere". She also said that this happens all the time and she is always finding apple cores or banana skins where shoppers have just picked up food and eaten it as they go around the store. Tesco have loads of signs warning that they prosecute shoplifters but it's obviously o.k to eat the evidence as you go along!

Hahah of course! It is late ;)

And it's the weekend...

It's theft, pure and simple. Recently, DS has been kicking off in the trolley about wanting to eat something, a piece of cheese, an orange, whatever, he does it all the time.

So I just continue to walk round the shop telling him that he'll have to wait until we've paid and getting looks from everyone because he's bawling about it.

If you let your kids so this in a shop, how do they learnt hat's it's not acceptable later on? Some people need to have some control FFS.

Its the attitude of the staff that makes me

The only reason people do it is cause they get away with it.

I never used to let dd eat then pay but then why i had two i thought sod it, i might as well, i get to do the shopping in peace, spend more time in the supermarket so asda/tesco get more of my ££££ so i dont think they mind at all. I always pay, often its just a banana out of a multipack (in fact the only reason i buy banana multipacks in stead of weighed is because my 1 yr old goes bizerk when he sees bananas)

Staff at tills never act disaprovingly, in fact usually offer to put rubbish (left over packaging) in the bin.

As the dc get older i will instill more discipline in waiting but for now it keeps everyone happy

firsttimemama who rattled your cage? Talk about defensive! You must be feeling very guilty.

I always bring snacks for dd to keep her quiet because she's too young to understand at the moment but if I was stuck then I might consider doing it for her but I would never ever do it for myself. You seriously can't wait till you're finished shopping and are so desperate that you need a picnic on the way round? I don't think that's anything to brag about tbh.

They couldn't know that the customer wasn't going to pay!

My son [when he was a toddler] has consumed loads of stuff on the way round the supermarket, I just put the empty/opened packet at the start of my shopping at the checkout and explain. No big deal.

I must admit that I have never seen anybody eat anything and then not pay for it/discard the packet. I agree that definately is stealing. On that note I never gave my son anything that needs to be weighed to eat (like grapes etc).

I should add that we DO NOT do this now, as my son is five!

How hungry are you that you can't wait 15 minutes or so until you've finished your shopping before eating stuff?

It just makes me - how can anyone in this country be soooooooo hungry that they can't wait half an hour or so before they have something to eat? God forbid you are actually ever in a situation where you have to wait more than, say, an hour or two in between meals! How will you ever cope??

We are a greedy nation in all sorts of ways and I think this just illustrates that greed really well.

I'm happy for my two to eat anything that keeps them quiet on the way round the shops. Never anything which doesn't have a barcode though. I will let them pick up toys etc on the way round, and every time they see another thing they want, they have to choose between the two and one gets put back. This is probably v.annoying for shop staff, but if they will put little attractive toys on hanging strips on every aisle... I can't face the tantrums if I say no, so this is the easiest option. I always end up buying something that will go in the bin within days though.

Actually Littleducks, they DO mind. And lots of other people mind.

Children need to be shown that you pay for food at the supermarket before you eat it.

Would you put a dress on in a shop before you'd paid for it? No, so why do so many people think it's okay to help themselves to food in this way? Like I said earlier, it's all about control.

Erm, I've worn clothes while i'm paying for at the till - when I was heavily pregnant I was meeting some friends in town to go to the cinema and my maternity jeans were sooooo uncomfortable, I had to pop into H&M and buy something more comfy. Wore it out of the changing room, pulled tags off and handed the tags to the lady at the till. No problem.

so would you go into Next and put on a scarf because you are feeling a bit cold and wear it round the shop before deciding to pay?
Why is it ok to do this with food?
And why ok in big stores?

Add message | Report | Contact poster By Finbar Sun 13-Dec-09 09:28:50
so would you go into Next and put on a scarf because you are feeling a bit cold and wear it round the shop before deciding to pay?
Why is it ok to do this with food?
And why ok in big stores

actually i have done this with a sling in tkmaxx. i decided to see if the pouch worked for us before i bought it. i carried dd4 in it for 30mins before i paid for it

I've never eaten anything in a supermarket and never given my dc's anything to eat. God I'm boring.

at misdee

"after 30 minutes wearing i have concluded this is the right sling for us...now...wheres the underwear"

Whatever, the shop or supermarket are quite witin their rights to stop you and call the old bill if they see you wearing clothes/eating their food while doing your shop. They just choose not to most of the time.

i used to breakj the end off the french stick for the dc when they were tiny. or on occasion open a multipack, but never ever not pay andam certainly not one of those people that give the kids a bag of grapes to eat all the way round.

how can they pay for them, when it is done by weight?

that is pure theft.

well I think it's a bit common to eat in the street or supermarket

My friend who chucks the sandwich wrapper half way round justifies this by saying that she's spending 100+ pounds in the store anyway.

I don't agree with this just to make it clear.

I quickly emailed a friend who's a solicitor to see if the law's changed since I studied this and he says it is still illegal to eat or drink anything before purchase but stores generally don't do anything out of 'goodwill' (they want you to keep coming back, in other words).

I can't understand why people do it - even if it wasn't breaking a minor law, it's incredibly rude, disrespectful and presumptuous (that eating/drinking something that doesn't belong to you yet is okay, cos the rules that everyone else abide by don't apply to you). If people are so hungry that you can't hold back then they need to change what they're doing, not take the piss eating stuff that they've not yet paid for (ie, essentially stealing).

Finbar no I wouldn't walk around next wearing a scarf before 'deciding' to pay - I might do so if I was very cold and I was definitely going to pay.

I can't believe that some of you would consider it stealing to open a packet in the supermarket that you then pay for - I wouldn't dream of not paying for it. That would be stealing obviously.

By MilkNoBrandyForSanta Sun 13-Dec-09 09:54:07
at misdee

"after 30 minutes wearing i have concluded this is the right sling for us...now...wheres the underwear"

no i've never done that lol.

the sling was a sized pouch and i was unsure if i needed l or xl. so tried the l. it was very comfrotable, so i took it to the till with dd4 still in it, and bought it. then tucked the receipt into its pocket and carried on shopping.

YABU to be livid. Get a grip.

Yes, honest people are paying for the (small ) number hwo eat stuff without paying. But if the shops decided to track down and prosecute every single one they'd spend a lot more money on all the extra security guards they would need.

Be annoyed at the people who eat stuff and don't pay, but the shops are making the best decision that they can.